Description

On June 17, 2016, Microsoft announced the grand opening of the Microsoft Canada Excellence Centre (MCEC) – a new, first-rate facility in the heart of downtown Vancouver that will house up to 750 developers and significantly expand Microsoft's development presence in Vancouver and Canada. Vancouver is a vibrant innovation hub with an established tech ecosystem and strong universities that support the company's development operations.

If you missed the launch event – please watch the celebrations here:https://aka.ms/mceclaunch. The day included a tour of the garage including projects like VanGo, Seeing AI, OneNote/Learning Tools and the HoloLens plus remarks by some pretty amazing special guests such as:

First Nation Leaders

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau – Prime Minister of Canada

Hon. Christy Clark - Premier of British Columbia

Hon. Amrik Virk, Minister of Technology

Gregor Robertson - Mayor of Vancouver

Janet Kennedy - President, Microsoft Canada

Brad Smith - Corporate President & Chief Legal Officer, Microsoft

T.K. Rengarajan, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft

Mary-Ellen Anderson - Vice President DX, Microsoft Canada

Edoardo De Martin - Director, MCEC

Microsoft Canada Excellence Centre Facts:

More than doubles Microsoft's development staff in Vancouver from approximately 300 up to 750.

Broadens the type of development work from high-end gaming to include leading applications such as Skype, OneNote, and applications for HoloLens.

Invests $90 million annually (wages and facility costs), resulting in more than $181.4 million in direct and indirect economic growth in the province.

Host 50 students from Canadian universities for a 16-week Garage Internship Program in which students work together to build apps, and receive mentorships from Microsoft's Vancouver engineering teams.

To learn more about Microsoft Canada Excellence Centre, you can visit us at mcec.microsoft.com or post questions to with #AccelerateCanada to @MicrosoftVan.